Railroad-ticket



(No Model.) 2 Sheets-Sheet 1.

L. D. HEUSNER.

- RAILROAD TIOKET.

No. 461,409. I Patented Oct. 13; 1.891.

(No 11011151. 1 2 Sheets-Sh"eet 2'. L. 1). HEUSNE-R. RAILROAD TIGKET.

No. 461,409. Patented 001-. 13, 1891-.

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Mejia/6 from! 1 UNITED STATES PATENT OFFICE.

LOUIS D. HEUSNER, OF CHICAGO, ILLINOIS.

RAILROAD-TICKET...

SPECIFICATION formingpart of Letters Patent No. 461,409, dated October13, 1891.

Application filed February 18, 1891. gerial No. 381,790. (No model.) I

To all whom, it may concern:

Be it known that I, LOUIS D. HEUSNER, a citizen of the United States,residing in the city of Chicago, county of Cook, and State of Illinois,have invented certain new and useful Improvements in Railroad-Tickets,of

which the following is a specification.

This invention relates to improvements in railroad-tickets, and moreparticularly to that class of excursion-tickets sold at reduced ratesfor the return trip. It is a well-known and common practice amongpurchasers of these tickets to sell them at the point of destination toscalpers or ticket-brokers, who dispose of them at reduced rates for thereturn passage, thus defrauding the railroad companies out of largerevenues annually.

The object of this invention is to have a railroad-ticket of such acharacter that it can only be used for return passage by the originalpurchaser by making it incumbent upon such purchaser to appear at theoiflce of the destination agent and reproduce vhis signature made at thepurchasing office and left Fig. 4, a similar View showing the same en-'attached to the ticket, but concealed from view, so that it cannot becounterfeited by any other person. This object isattained by the devicesillustrated in the accompanying drawings, in which Figure 1 is-a frontview of a railroad-ticket embodying my invention. Fig. 2 is-a rearelevation of the same; Fig. 3, a front view of the ticket, showingthelfsame partially folded;

tirely folded; Fig. 5, a rear elevation of the same, showing the ticketfolded and sealed;

Fig. 6, a central vertical section on the line 6 6 of Fig. 5, and Fig. 7a transverse horizontal section on the line 7 7 of Fig. 5.

Similarletters of reference indicate the same parts in the severalfigures of the drawings.

This ticket is preferably formed in a single blank, but may be composedof two parts, and comprises the main body A at the lower end, theselling agents stub B at the upper end, the identifying-stub 0, havingsealing-flaps E extending laterally at each side thereof, and theblank-folders E and F, of substantially the same dimensions as theidentifying-stub, the former intervening between the sellingagents stuband the identifying-stub, and the latter intervening between the identifyin g-stub and the main body of the ticket. I

Upon the main body of the ticket is printed the usual matter, showingthe destination of the purchaser and the usual form of contract,

and in addition thereto a clause of the contract relating to theconditions under which the purchaser of the ticket must identify himselfto the agent at the destination point in order to have the ticketstamped, so as to render it valid for return passage.

Upon the identifying-stub is a line for the signature of the purchaserbeneath a printed paragraph explaining the ticket under the terms of thecontract on the body of the ticket, as above referred to. When theticket is sold, the selling agent first stamps it in the usual mannerwith date, &c., then he tears off the selling agents stub at the line ofperforations G and retains the same as a voucher, after which he foldsthe blank section E at the line H over onto the identification-stub, soas to entirely conceal the same, as illustrated in Fig. 3. Then he againfolds the ticket on the line I, bringing into view a notice printed onthe back of the identifying-stub to the efiect that if the seal isbroken by any one but the destination agent the ticket will be invalidfor return passage, after which the sealingflaps D, which are gummedalong their edges,

purpose of better indicating to the destination agent if the sealing hasbeen disturbed since stamping. It will thus be seen that the signatureof the originalpurchaser is attached to the ticket when delivered tohim, but concealed from view, under conditions that would render theticket invalid for return passage should he or any other person attemptto un seal the ticket for the purpose of seeing the signature thereon.

Immediately above the main body of the ticket, or rather at the extremeupper end of the main body of the ticket, is left a space in which theoriginal purchaser must duplicate his signature in the presence of theagent at the point of destination and before the breakticket for returnpassage, and it therefore cannot be used for that purpose.

By the employment of railroad-tickets made in accordance with myinvention the sale thereof to scalpers or ticket-brokers for returnpassage will be almost entirely, if not wholly, prevented, because thenecessity for duplicating the concealed signature in the presence of thedestination agent would deter persons from purchasing them, for very fewpersons would accept a signature left by some other person and undertaketo counterfeit it without having previously seen it for the destinationagent, nor would the scalpel-s purchase the tickets on any suchuncertainty, While the danger of discovery of surreptitiously unsealingof the ticket would likewise deter any efforts in that direction.

Having described my invention, what I claim, and desire to secure byLetters Patent, 1s

' 1. The combination of the identificationstub O, a portion E, attachedto the top of said I i I stub and adapted to fold down over the facethereof, the portion F, attached to the bottom of said stub and adaptedto fold over the free end of the portion E and having a railroadticketattached to its lower end, and a sealing-flap D at each of the side endsof the stub 0, adapted to be sealed to the back of the portion F,substantially as set forth.

2. The combination of the identificationstub O, a portion E, attached tothe top of said stub and adapted to fold down over the face thereof, theportion F, attached to the bottom of said stub and adapted to fold overthe free end of the portion E and having a railroad ticket attached toits lower end, and a sealing-flap D at each of the side ends of the stub0, adapted to be sealed to the back of the portion F, the portion Fbeing longer than the portion E, so as to leave a blank space at itslower end for the duplicate signature, subtantially as set forth.

LOUIS D. HEUSNER.

In presence of Y W. R. OMOHUNDRO, R. O. OMoHUNDRo.

